Fasting Space

A focus on taking back our power

from a nefarious force that we call fear.

I don't know if you relate to fear if you don't feel afraid.

Hopefully not.

Hopefully everybody is safe in this situation.

But fear is an insidious force.

It is something that can sneak its way into your life

and affect us in the in the short term,
something imminently dangerous.

We say we're aware of fear and very unpleasant,

but sometimes fear is just running

in the background and it can masquerade

as, other sorts of things.

Maybe we were fearful at some place

and we never, you know, in the remote past,
and we never fully released that.

And now we are acting out of fear.

Maybe that fear has morphed
and has shifted over into other areas.

Today we're going to take a deep look at it.

We're going to try to, dig down and take back our power from.

It can be like a parasite is leeching off our energy, right?

If we're trying to move forward in health,
we're trying to build

the most powerful, thoughtful, mindset,

to move in a direction of, love and light.

We do not want to be living in fear.

You know, I was thinking of, our discussion yesterday.

From The Obstacle is the way they were listing these virtues.

And the one that just stood out to me was courage. Right.

And I was thinking a lot about courage.

That we want to be moving forward powerfully.

You know, courage is like.

It doesn't mean that there is. Never fear.

It doesn't mean that we have, you know, perfect certainty
about what is happening.

Of course we don't.

But it is taking action in the face of it.

And this is what we're trying to say. The obstacle is the way.

If there are things that we are afraid of,
like, let's commit together today.

Like we are not running away from them anymore.

We are moving toward them and facing them.

And that's how we diminish and ultimately overcome

any fear that is holding us back from what we really want.

That's what I'm wanting
everybody to dig deep on takes and space.

That's hopefully what we're doing here.

Bring some awareness to what we are doing, as much awareness
as we can.

We say, what do we really want?

Who is this person here?

And then what does it mean to be that person in this moment?

This is what we're trying to figure out, right?

And bring it down into this day
as we try to center ourselves here in this moment,

what does it mean to be here now in this space?

What does it mean to take back the power that we might be?

Sending in directions that we're not even aware of.

We're going to gain insight on this from a really, I thought,

a very thought provoking passage from this book,

The Mountain Is You, which I'm loving going through.

I read this passage a couple days ago.

And I just had to sit with it a while.

I know for me, I really,

yeah, had to do some thinking and I realized, oh man,

some actions that I'm taking that I thought were one thing,
really just fear.

I'm acting out of fear.

Brianna, waste, says to us
when we cannot stop returning to fearful thoughts,

it's not always is
because there is an actual threat in front of us.

Often it is because our internal response systems

are underdeveloped or sidelined by trauma.

And we've gone into that place, quite a number of times.

We say traumatic things happen, okay?

They can be big time, traumas.

It can be small traumas.

Something that happened recently, something that happened
a long time ago, even when we were little.

Kid. Right.

Or when we are extra vulnerable
and then we can carry that with us.

Do we even realize that actions we're taking now
might be rooted in fear?

Ultimately?

When we are in a state of fearful thinking,

doesn't matter what we are afraid of.

The thought process follows us from problem to problem.

Often there's a metaphor encoded within it.

For example, we might be afraid of a loss of control.

Or some external force coming in and unraveling our progress.

Right.

So I thought that was very interesting.

Like we think, okay, I'm afraid of something.

I'm afraid of the dark. I'm afraid of spiders.

I'm afraid of whatever, okay?

I'm afraid of a loss of control. Right? Like this.

You can see how they're saying, okay, that can cross domains,
I can cross places.

Something like that can follow us around.

Do you feel that way, or have you ever felt that way?

We like to be in control, right?

We at least like to feel that way.

Regardless, of what the fear is, they say chronic fear.

So thinking often comes down to feeling the need
to focus our energy and attention

and an attention on a potential threat

so that we can protect ourselves from it.

Imagine
that if we are worried, anxious, or angry about something.

No, they say, we imagine

that if we are worried, anxious or angry about it,
that it will remain

within our awareness and therefore it can't surprise us

and we can retain some control over it.

Isn't that interesting?

This is one of the, things that really got me

thinking, you know, about, my own life deeply.

You know, that is like, we've asked that sometimes, right?

Like, why do we do the things that we do?

Like why do we also return to cycles of things where we say,

I'm not going to make that choice anymore than yet
I do, right?

Have you struggled with something like that?

Is there fear at the root of something like that?

Could be when we need to focus our energy

and attention on something, we're perceiving a threat.

Remember so much of our body systems, right?

The fight or flight, all these things that we're trying
to bring into balance, like trying to protect us from threats.

And if we have a history, some trauma
that is still sitting in there,

these negative emotions that we went through earlier
this week, like, like all these things that are giving us

clues, there's some deep work that we need to do

so that we can resolve something and come to a state of peace.

Finding that internal state of peace

where the body actually is getting the message
you are actually safe.

Like you see that that is setting aside the fear.

We're moving beyond the fear, coming to peace
with these things so that we can move forward in health.

I'm just seeing so much.

Being in a fearful state is not a healthy state.

Okay, see, we are imagining

that if we keep hanging on to that fear,
maybe we keep control of it, right?

Maybe nothing bad happens.

Maybe by worrying enough about it.

Like, are we actually controlling it? Probably not.

I was sitting, with this a lot and saying, of course it's
okay to plan for things

as of course, let's think of a line
between worrying about things and planning, right?

Of course, having a plan and very thoughtful thing to do,

but worrying over
something is like sending the energy into the fear, right?

And this is something that we cannot do.

Well, let's say it's something.

Maybe it wouldn't be our best choice.

I say no rules, right? But. Right.

We don't want to be worried or anxious or angry.

Ultimately, isn't it the case?

I say we worry about things because we want control over them.

Isn't it
the case that, that it leaves us in a less powerful position?

Actually.

They say here the very act of holding these fearful thoughts
within our minds

is exactly how the fear is controlling us in the first place.

I found that
I found that, like, really, you know, stuff like this.

Like I say, this book is like a mirror.

It can tell you things like, you don't like to see it.

Sometimes you look in the mirror,
you say, I'm mirror doesn't lie, though, and is like.

Like we don't want to be controlled by something, right?

This is the thing we try to. We worry.

We are fearful about something
because we think that gives us control.

But then we see that these thoughts,
the fearful thoughts, end up controlling us.

Do you see the loop?

It's like we end up being controlled out of fear. Not.

Not a joyful, positive, way to move forward.

It seems like because we can be controlled by fear,

say it's derailing our lives right now.

It's like, oh, man, do you feel that way?

Is there something like, do you ever feel derailed in life?

Like, oh, this force isn't just pushing me off my track.

I keep wanting to go. But then getting off track, right?

Is it actually fear derailing it?

We're trying to have control.

I can see this. Do you see it?

We're trying to have control.

We worry about things
because we feel like that's giving us control over it,

but then it's taking all that energy
that we're putting into it

and it's using that energy against us.

So where does the energy come to derail it?

We get we're giving it to it in many times.

We're trying to move forward on a health path, but then
we worry, what does that actually look like when we change?

Like, okay, we've got certain practices that we use
because we're coping with these emotions, right?

This is why we're going through all these different emotions.

How do we come to peace with these emotions, invert them,

see the good and spring out of them
like, talk about the trampoline.

Fear might be the king one, right?

The that really.

Is at the core of
what can so often keep us from moving forward.

Keep us in a loop.

Because we are changing our energy into something
that is out of our control.

Ultimately, as opposed to using it for everything
that is actually within our control.

That's how the derailing function works.

We take the energy that we should be putting into our habits.

Our actions are behaviors,
the things that would actually move us forward.

Right.

Very hard
if we said we're trying to be healthy in an unhealthy culture.

We're trying to make decisions in a consumption culture
that says,

I don't need to consume for a while,
but that's the fasting space.

Consumption culture says you got to keep
consuming all the time or something bad is going to happen.

Do you see the fear in it like you are weak?

You if you don't get this energy in right away, like the body
is going to be damaged, like you got to be afraid of that.

Like you better buy my product quick.

God, I move beyond fear.

Into the habits and actions
that can move forward against that.

To say no. Actually I am strong.

I have energy and power here.

I am not dependent on you and I'm not afraid.

That is fasting as an empowering mindset

or take it to any practice that is your health practice.

That's the exercise path, right?

To say like, I am moving this body

in the most beautiful way and I'm using this energy
that is within me.

You can't stop me.

You know, the powerful, courageous mindset,
whatever your path toward weight loss and health is,

if it's just choosing the healthiest foods,
it's the same mindset

we are in this culture that is overwhelmed
by synthetic processed foods that is actually harmful.

I think we should probably stop
calling a lot of this stuff, even food.

You know, if something can be eaten and you say, well,
it tastes kind of good,

but it is actually slowly poisoning the body,
we should stop calling that a food.

Food has got to give energy to the body
and health and nourishment.

Okay.

So any of these choices,
these are all of our health practices.

They're all the same ultimately. Right.

The things that are bringing health
and flourishing into the body are space

in the mind for deep contemplation on things like this.

Is fear ultimately underlying the actions

that I am taking or derailing me from taking the actions
I need to take.

And can we confront it?

Yeah, double underline this one.

In this sense, what we are afraid of is really a projection
of what is already happening.

That's because it's a loop, right?

We fear the thing.

We worry about it, try to control it.

It starts controlling
us, shaping our behavior into the very thing

we don't want the fear manifest,
the thing that we're afraid of, like, oh man.

That is a nasty circle.

It's like we want to turn that whole circle around.

See, when we let go of the fear, when we overcome it,

when we courageously confront it and move through it,
we reverse that whole cycle.

Then we take all the energy that we were sending into fear.

We take our power back.

We move through the cycle in the positive direction,

bringing all our energy to the positive.

We create the positive instead of creating the fear.

This is what I say here.

The only way we, the only true way to get over

a fear is to actually get through it.

Instead of trying to battle, resist,
and avoid what we can't control, we learn.

To say that if it happens, it happens.

Okay, that's to me, that's acceptance.

We accept the often difficult reality that in this life,

things do happen, okay, that are beyond our control.

They say the second that we are able to shrug, laugh,

throw our hands up, say whatever will be.

Or I say even at least to simply accept it.

We take back all of our power from it.

Do you think that's true?

Can you feel that? That's true.

To stand in a space and say,
I will not be afraid of this anymore, and then to courageously

take the steps, even if you don't really believe it.

Let's let's explore this thought.

Even if you didn't really believe it, you say, no,
I am still afraid.

But I see that this fear is controlling me.

To take the step that you would take
if you weren't afraid of it.

Isn't that what courage is?

And now all of a sudden, you took the step that you would have
taken is like creating action

and evidence that you actually aren't afraid of it,
that you're moving through it.

Isn't that what it's like to actually move through it?

That the obstacle becomes the way, right?

What keeps the fire of fear raging is the idea
that if we accept what we are

afraid of, we are giving into the worse potential outcome.

The truth is that when we stop being afraid
of what we cannot control

and no, instead that nothing can possibly ruin our lives

more than we are ruining them
with our negative, distracted and irrational thinking.

Oh man.

Marie. Hello. Good morning.

How are you today? Welcome.

Nice to hear from you.

I was fearful of even trying to fast or lose weight
because I've failed so many times.

Oh, yes, oh, yes.

Thank you for sharing that.

That is, I will tell you, you are not alone

in feeling that way is very, very common and big barrier.

You know.

Really happy that you, found your way here to it.

And, I hope that this mindset is helping you

to approach it in a thoughtful, way.

Yeah, so that you can,

not be overwhelmed by anything, move gently toward it.

Sink into the practice in a way that, leads to great success.

That's what I am sending out in my thoughts. For you.

They conclude this, section.

When we stop being afraid of.

We can't what?

We can't control, we are completely freed.

And that is what I want for all of us.

I don't know if I made an actual video on it, but I've.

I've brought that, idea into,

some of these, discussions.

Fasting is freedom. That is like the dietary freedom.

That's a total conversion.

Fasting, I think, in society seen as a total restriction.

And people use negative words like,

like, oh, this person is starving themselves like, as I could,

or it is like, looked down upon in some way.

All right.

When we see something like this in, in any space to say.

A process that helps us to stop being afraid,

to embrace a spirit of openness and to start trusting the body

deeply and realizing the strength and power of it,

is tapping into like a core metabolic space

of the human system that is both a body and a mind.

I use words like openness.

I just say fasting is openness.

It's a it's a whole spectrum of a fasting process.

Someone I was talking to yesterday say,
it isn't just one thing, you know.

It isn't just,
oh, it's 16 eight, it's a omad at some longer thing,

like, no, we can
we can micro fast this all the way down into tiny little bits.

It's a concept. It's a mindset more than anything.

And the mindset that it is to me is taking our power back.

And I love that phrase, take the power back.

Society is said. We have to consume our way to health.

We have to buy expensive products
that are risky for your whole life.

You'll never be free of it.

Okay, you're just like subscribing to health

as a service, like a Netflix.

It's like we're just renting health.

I don't want people renting health.

Okay, take any product you need.

Talk to your medical team. Okay.

But the spirit that feels, to me is like,
let's take our power back.

I don't want people to have to be dependent on anything,

not on any sort of food product, not on anything.

It's like finding power within ourselves and strength.

Not afraid of anything.

Not living in fear in any way.

This is the last, two sentences of this section.

When we are in full acceptance.

Fear leaves our consciousness and it becomes a non-issue.

It is at this point that we realize that it always was. Who?

Who said that?

Nothing to fear but fear itself. Right?

I should know who said that?

Nothing in fear but fear itself.

When we fully accept it, okay, it dissipates.

So when we fight it,
when we're fighting it, so many things in life are this way.

When we are fighting something,
we are sending into it, our energy into

it is so often
that's like what supports it and keeps it going.

Okay.

When we accept it.

Okay, see, we're taking our power back.

We're not feeding into it.
What's supporting that fear anymore?

Because there's nothing supporting it anymore.
And so I can dissipate.

To me, whether you call it just an analogy or you say
this is the reality of it, here we are fasting space.

We're looking at fasting space in the body.

You know, fasting space can dissolve a lot of things here.

We're trying to take our power back,
dissolve here in a space, say,

a mental, emotional space,
just like what we're trying to do physically in the body.

We're trying to dissolve a lot of stuff in the body.

So there's extra energy here, whether that's blood sugar, it's

body fat, it's opening up a space.

There's something here that we say, I don't want this,
you know, I want the number on the scale to go down right.

There's energy here.

So let's give the body space to use it.

Think about the parallel between these two concepts.

We're sending our energy into fear through worry,
anxiety, anger.

We're not living in the present.

We're saying, what if this happens in the future?

What if I feel a certain way? Okay.

But then like we're saying, then we accept it,

say it's okay out the the phrase I like the most,
everything is okay.

I kind of even when it's not like
because that say we could argue about it.

Someone have a discussion. Look, things are not okay.

Like look at all of the bad things
in the world that we can get overwhelmed, by.

But then we accept it.

We say, no, actually, everything is okay, I am okay.

We find.

A space in the midst of the storm, right?

Everything that is happening right? Grounded, centered.

Finding peace and contentment here in this moment,
in our in our tiny little bubble and saying,

isn't this the way that that we are not aware?

It's like, not like not ignorance is bliss, right?

Like it's not like we're trying to just pretend

that the world is any different
than the reality of how it is.

But we are creating a space for ourselves in the midst of it.

Our barrier, right? Our fortress.

Like the line that's releasing where anger.

Remember the other day we are seeing
what is the positive side of anger?

Where is creating our boundaries?

Okay, so we have our boundaries, a protected space
so that in the midst of all of these things

that we can actually move forward in health,
this is what we want to do.

When we are worried about every part of the future
and we are sending our energy to it,

okay, we want to take that back, collect it, protect

our health space for us
so that we can move forward in the healthiest way.

And then isn't that the type of space

that from a space like that that is grounded, centered,

connected, courageous, overcoming fear of anything else?

Isn't that the type of powerful mindset
that could actually make

the most difference in the world
with all of the negative things?

Like instead of being worried and overwhelmed
and paralyzed by them,

that we actually take our power back center ourselves,

that we can actually explode out from that

and just send love and light out and make like,

if we can make any difference in our tiny little lives,

in the great sea of confusion that is, modern existence,

don't you have to do it from a position of health
and strength, you know?

And so I say, we'll take our power back

from any kind of worry or anxiety for ourselves.

And we accept those things
about the future that we cannot control,

so that we can actually live in the present
and actually find contentment here.

The space of contentment
is how you find a sustainable process.

Remember atomic habits telling us, don't worry
so much about the goal.

You know, kind of have an aspirational vision.

So I'm gonna climb that mountain.

But the important thing is to bring things into the present
and doesn't

pretty much every philosophy, teach this

because isn't this some of the deep human wisdom
that is passed down for millennia

to just live in the present moment?

To find peace and contentment here, when we can find that

a way of being that is actually at peace and centered.

This is the process of how we actually flow toward a goal.

So many people tell me, if this is your experience,
trying to punish themselves toward better health,

brutalize, yourself in the gym, even if you don't like it.

Okay.

And people can do that and you can keep up
like many people can, can keep up for a very long time

with a process that, it isn't nice.

Okay.

And all that can work until you reach a breaking point, right?

Of some kind.

Whether that's a physical injury,
whether that's the gym. Right.

If you're putting all your, eggs in the gym basket

and you haven't done the mental work
and the dietary work or anything else,

and then there's an injury,
then then things can really go sideways, right down the path.

It is sustainable is the path that is joyful,

positive and content,
where we're not acting out of fear, where

we're acting out of joy and love and positivity.

And I tell people,
if you're not in a space like that, like I say, just wait.

I think it's better to wait and do nothing than to ever try
to force your way into something

that doesn't feel good, especially a fasting process.

I want a fasting process.

The words to me that resonate, curious is a good one.

You know, it's like, what?

What is this really like?

Can I really do this?

Like, just like an open minded exploration of,
like, the potential of the body,

like to say like,
oh, like it seems like people can actually do this.

Like,
I didn't know, I didn't I didn't even know for the longest

time, not a minute spent on it in medical school.

You know what I mean?

Like, I didn't know the patients fast
when they go to the lab to get their cholesterol checked.

That's the only time I hardly ever even heard it mentioned.

You know?

We don't even use the word in medicine. Someone has to be NPO.

Nothing by mouth.

Like if someone's fasting prior to a surgery,
you know, you got to have so many hours

so that the stomach can be emptied.

So there's not an aspiration risk. Okay.

But we don't say, oh, let's have the patient fasting for that.

We just say, oh, they're NPO like
like we even try to keep that word out of things as much.

I just think that's very interesting.

Take the power back of this process of fasting.

A word has been part of our human experience
for thousands of years,

I don't think I think we need to reintroduce ourselves.

That's part of taking the power back, is to realize, like,
hey, there is,

strength, and power here, even in this word
and in this practice.

And because it's powerful, should be approached

so thoughtfully and, yeah,

curiously, positively, joyfully.

If you're not feeling that, hey,
maybe it's a different path for you today or for this season.

These things can come and go and seasons
the different seasons for different

health practices
and it's not that it has to line up like with.

It's not just one thing.
I'm just saying for each person, right?

We have seasons of life where we flow through,

different, different spaces.

So see where that season is for you.

I think those are my thoughts on fear today.

I think those are my thoughts. And taking the power back.

I'll be reflecting on this today
as this has kind of been the big

theme of my week has been like,
I'm going to be done with that.

Let's let's all that's how I'll be done.

Living in any type of fear.

Let us resolve ourselves, do some deep thinking,

find the places, the spaces in our lives where okay,

if there is an action that we are taking,
if there is a situation where we are feeling stuck, let's

try to look in there and see if there isn't something

we are afraid of that
we haven't realized that is underlying that.

And that can be a big unlock

if if we bring to our awareness.

Something that we are actually afraid of,
that we didn't realize it.

And we can accept it, come to peace with it.

All of a sudden you might find what was previously
a struggle, decisions that were a struggle.

All of a sudden it's like,
oh, it's not such a big deal, right?

Because I don't have to be afraid of it.

This is why we are trying to get to these root levels.

Remember, we're trying to get to a state
where the practices and the habits that actually help us

move most powerfully forward are actually the easiest to do

where we want to do them,
where it's a joy to just flow through them

like a river flowing through the canyon, that this is just
what happens, you know, the flow state.

I think it's this deep kind of emotional work, refined.

If that's not happening,
if you're not experiencing a a flow to health decisions,

that is like carrying you on the path.

If you're not in that space.

These are the practices to actually get there,

to open up a thoughtful, contemplative spaces,

ask deep questions like, what am I really afraid of?

You know, that is holding me back and derailing the process.

I hope that thought can be helpful.

On your health, journey.

Thank you for sharing this, space, with me today.

Here, do some deep thinking on this, section,

and you can come back to it and come back in the comments.

Do you identify things like this, that fear

that has been taking you off a course derailing?

Feel free to share
and we can talk about it in the comments as we, go forward.

Really loved that thinking,
and I will look forward to connecting with you again tomorrow.

Have a beautiful day, everybody.